Fun is work is Fun

I sit

I stare

A purple chair

Where can my muse darling be?

I sit

I type

A bunch of hype

Playing upon the tv.

I sit

I sigh

The breaths fly by

I forward a sentence or two.

I sit

I babble

In poetry I dabble.

What else can this dry writer do?

I sit

I wiggle

I watch him giggle

Yes, that happened that way.

I sit

I smirk

Work is fun is work.

At least I will finish today.

I sit

I scribble

The cat sleeps in dribble.

Would this turn out different if penned?

I sit

I listen

The rhyme here is glisten.

And that brings this poem to its end.

I hope you have a great day!

-Lila

Soapbox of Perception - a Special Day

I have a question for you.  Why do many schools & places of business close on Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas, yet stay open for other holidays?  What special qualities do these three holidays have which the others lack?

Thanksgiving is an American holiday.  But so is the 4th of July.  And both involve food.

Easter and Christmas are based on religious holidays.  But so is Halloween.   Valentine's & St. Patrick's Day are religious in origin also.  They all involve food.

Of course, to be fair, most of the holidays involve food.  Or some form of party.

And the retail market will grab any special day to make an extra sale, so we'll take that out of the equation also.

Easter and Christmas are family holidays.  So is Thanksgiving.  So is Mother's Day and Father's Day.  And so is Halloween (remembering our ancestors).  And Memorial Day.

Easter and Christmas involve gifts and games for children.  Thanksgiving involves games for adults - of both sexes, as more women are showing their preference for watching football to cleaning up the kitchen.  New Year's often involves games (often not suitable for children).  Halloween involves games for young and old, and gifts for children.  Though I'm not sure it counts as a gift, if it is demanded.

Easter and Christmas often involve dressing children up in adorable outfits.  So does Halloween.  In fact, on Halloween, many adults dress up in outfits, though adorable isn't always the adjective to be used.

In fact, going by these statistics, if any holiday is going to be honored by having stores closed for it, Halloween has more in common with Easter and Christmas than Thanksgiving does.  Halloween is  a family oriented holiday based on religion which involves the giving and receiving of gifts.  There's a lot of food, games and parties, and adorable outfits.  We pretend it's for the children.

And when it comes to home decorating, Halloween is the only day which gives Christmas a run for its money.  Or would that be the reverse?

In fact, Halloween is probably the real biggest Holiday we still celebrate together.   It's the one Holiday where the whole community can choose to be involved without needing a specific invitation or affiliation.  Just leave your light on!

So now my question is, when are we going to start closing the stores and businesses for Halloween?

I hope you had a great day off, if a day off you had.

-Lila

Babble 1

9:33

So.  I find myself close to my deadline.  I have 2 and 1/2 hours to go before I NEED to have something posted.  I must make my goal.  I must.  AAAAAAAAGHHH.

And nothing is resonating.  All these marvelous thoughts I've mentally composed come to lifeless sentences upon the screen.  There is no poetry to them, no force, no conviction.

There is a huge difference between believing something, or thinking something, or contemplating something, and being able to accurately and passionately discuss that belief, that thought.

And so we come to the first of our desperation measures - the babble.  Wherein in I type whatever comes to mind for the next five minutes and post it, willy nilly.

Which isn't actually accurate.  Willy nilly - which now is used for a chaotic arrangement or action - originally comes from "Will he, nil he" - with or without permission.  At least, I'm assuming that's where it comes from.  That's what it sounds like, doesn't it?  I could take the time to look it up, but that would deplete from the five minutes of typing and so, it feels like cheating.

This form of typing will also give a really good idea of how I talk.  Words spilling haphazardly from  my lips (or fingers) to flow upon the ear of the patient listener.

My mom was an excellent listener.  And rarely expressed judgement.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I used her as a sounding board and often, if I didn't like the way something sounded when I talked about it, or if I couldn't express it fully and completely (as in no poetry, no force and no conviction *G*) then it wasn't time for that idea.  Or that idea wasn't for me.  I was/ am a pretty good listener to others, but with my Mom I was a motor mouth.  I don't even know if there was an off switch.

I am cheating a little.  There are a lot of deletes - either through typos, or through words not exactly expressing what I'm trying to say.  And so (at 9:40) I'll keep typing a little while longer.

Expressing myself verbally ad nauseum to my mother may have been a side effect of not feeling comfortable expressing myself to others.  Privacy has always felt like a big issue with me.  Whose business is it, anyway?

But the other part, it turns out, is, well, as a story teller, I had a tendency to just open my mouth and say anything.  And then I'd be left with these words and thoughts I didn't really believe.  So I learned, practiced, tried to keep my mouth shut.

Until now.  These last few years I've allowed myself to speak again.  Because I know what I believe.  And, actually more important, if I say something that's not a personal belief or knowledge, I know how to retract, or express my total lack of ignorance.  Because I've learned to accept myself.

Which is amusing, because the piece I was trying to right is about accepting - accepting self and others, and the different between accepting someone and admiring them.  So at least I wound up back on topic, didn't I?

And that puts it at 9:45.  Weird, since I am a pretty fast typer, that it takes so long to write so little.  So little in words anyway.  But the intensity behind it is huge.  Isn't it?  And, I'm not even going to proof read it.  So we'll see how I feel about this post tomorrow.

Thank you for reading.   This end the babble.

9:47

I hope you have a great day!

-Lila

How to Epilate without Really Crying

I admit it.  I am an epilator.

You might think, given my "natural" preferences , that I would be a person who prefers not to shave.  And that's true.  I really do prefer not to shave.  It's annoying.  And messy.  Sometime painful.  And no matter how many commercials I watch, or products I try, I never end up with a perfect shave.  Or a very long lasting one.

But I also prefer not to have whiskers on my chin.  Yup.  I'm one of "those" women.  A BEAUTIFUL head of hair means a beautiful HEAD of hair.  And since I'm gonna remove hair from my chin, I may as well remove hair from my legs.  It's true.  I like my legs to be smooth.  Not for anyone else, but for the way it feels and looks to me.

So yes, I have tried the creams, which really make my skin feel weird.  It's not that effective.  And it's also messy, as well as awkward - standing in the bathroom, holding the robe away from my legs while trying to read a book to pass the time until I can climb into the shower and GET THIS STUFF OFF ME!

And I've tried waxing.  Yeah.  Not horrible, really.  But, you guessed it.  Messy.  And occasionally awkward.  And, again, not always effective.  (it's pretty stubborn hair.)   And definitely not helpful on the chin.  (Stubborn, stubborn hair.)

So, I finally tried an epilator.  I figured, it can't be much worse than a tatoo, right?  Eventually, the area will get numb, right?

The chin was fine, really.  A little surprising, because the noisy little buzzer grabbed all sorts of hairs I didn't know were there.  But I've tweezed my chin before, so it was a decent experience and, even better, a much more thorough job than the waxing or the cream (or the tweezing) ever did.

But my legs were not happy.  The first time I epilated, I only managed to get half of each leg done.  And I needed to take the rest of the day off to recover from the trauma.  Serious trauma.  Beauty is pain trauma.   Which, in my perspective, is just silly.  Pain isn't fun.  Beauty should be fun.  Therefore…

But, my legs (the epilated parts) did stay hair free.  So a week later, I gritted my teeth and did another section.  And two weeks later another.

Then I hit upon the perfect way to epilate.  And no, it does not involve alcohol either before or after the event.

But it does involve herbs.  (remember, I am a "natural" girl.)

Bonnie's Balms Pain Eraser, to be specific.  A natural blend of herbs combined to help numb pain.  (Also good for sore muscles.)  I put it on half an hour or an hour before I'm going to epilate.  It is a little oily, but it smells good, and, since it's herbs, I don't mind it getting on my clothes.  So I can continue working, or read curled up on the couch, or do whatever I want with no awkwardness at all!

Then, I take a warm bath (because I can), gently scrub the oil off my legs & chin, dry and epilate.  Just run the little machine up and down the leg like an electric razor. 

No trauma.  No tears.  And yes, there's still a little pain.  A sting.  A tingle.  And it's still a mess - little teeny hair follicles everywhere - eeewwww.  But, much less mess than the rest.  And so worth it!  Every two weeks, numb, bathe, & zippity doodad.

Granted, I haven't been brave enough to try it on my thighs.  I still wince when I do the back of my knees, though I think that may be more expectation than actual feeling.  But I do foresee a day… 

I hope you  have a great one!

-Lila